Last year's surprise addition to the Mac desktop family was the Apple Mac Studio, a compact machine that looks like a double-decker Mac mini, but now with power on par with the newest Mac Pro tower. Apple's WWDC 2023 keynote included the announcement of a 2023 revision of the Mac Studio, available with either the M2 Max or the brand-new M2 Ultra chip, the latter which basically stitches two M2 Max modules together.
This development cements the Mac Studio's place in Apple's desktop lineup, making it one of its most powerful and versatile systems, even as it looks unchanged from the outside. I had the chance to see it in action firsthand at Apple Park in Cupertino, Calif., during Apple's WWDC 2023 kick-off. Here's what I think so far of the updated Mac Studio for 2023.
Still Small, But Now Even Mightier
The Mac Studio is the Big Mac to the Mac mini's Quarter Pounder, sharing the same square footprint and a similar extruded-aluminum design, but standing a few inches taller. Inside, the Mac Studio houses the top processors in the M2 lineup, the M2 Max or the just-announced M2 Ultra.
The base model of the Mac Studio now features an M2 Max processor. That's a 12-core CPU paired with 30 graphics cores, 16 neural engine cores, and the Apple Media engine. Configurable with up to 96GB of memory and as much as 8TB of storage, it starts at $1,999 with a more modest 64GB of memory and 512GB of storage.
Because this is the same Mac Studio chassis as before, you still get the same hardwired connections. That includes the same four rear Thunderbolt 4 ports as before. Apple has also carried over the distinction between its "Max" and "Ultra" versions having either two additional USB-C (10Gbps) or Thunderbolt 4 ports up front, respectively.
Finally, both versions have the same SDXC card slot up front, plus two USB-A ports (5Gbps), an HDMI port (now enhanced to support 8K resolution), a 10Gbps Ethernet port, and a 3.5mm headphone jack around the back.
This 2023 update also upgrades the wireless connections on board to Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3, better future-proofing your system for the next few years.
Going Ultra With the Best M2 Chip Yet
The M2 Max is the same processor available in the top-end MacBook Pro models, but the M2 Ultra is something entirely new and exclusive to these desktops.
To get there, Apple doubles up the M2 Max and welds the two together into a single system-on-a-chip (SOC) with a speedy interconnect. The M2 Ultra updates the previous M1 Ultra (achieved in much the same way, but with doubled-up M1 Max chips) with more cores, more bandwidth, and better performance across the board.
If you're keeping score, this is the same chip provided in the new 2023 Mac Pro, making the M2 Ultra-powered Mac Studio something like a "Mac Pro Jr." No, it's not a lesser machine. It's more like a ready-made version of the Mac Pro with all of the power (albeit likely with less thermal headroom), but none of the internal customization. Anything you'll want to add or upgrade will have to attach to an external port. (Also see our look inside the Mac Pro from WWDC.)
The M2 Ultra version of the Mac Studio comes with up to 192GB of memory, and as much as 8TB of solid-state storage. Note that in configuring your Studio system for purchase, the new M2 Ultra comes in a choice of two graphics levels: a 60-core GPU, or a 76-core version. The M2 Ultra version of the Studio starts at $3,999, but with all the possible upgrades, the top configuration sells for $8,799.
The Takeaway: Mac Studio Finds Its Place as Mac Pro Jr.
Last year, I wondered whether the Mac Studio was a stealthy replacement for the Mac Pro, which at the time had gone without an Apple Silicon update for years. Now, we know that the answer is more nuanced.
The Mac Studio will sit alongside the Mac Pro, providing a middle option in the Mac desktop lineup that is way more powerful than the Mac mini and can scale up to rival the Mac Pro. After all, it's capable of just about the same processing, graphics power, memory, and storage—everything, really, but SSD upgrades and internal PCI Express card expansion.
The Mac Studio is a compact powerhouse, and for many of you, it will do the same job that the Mac Pro would have in the past. That you can do all this with a compact mini PC of the same rough footprint as the Mac mini is a testament to Apple's technology and design, and I can't wait to see how it does in testing when we get it in for review.